A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect

The publication in a single-volume format of the two Homeric dictionaries created by Richard John Cunliffe, LL.D. (ob. Mar. 1931), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect and Homeric Proper and Place Names (hereafter, LHD and HPPN), should not need any lengthy explanation. Both works have been admired and respected for their thoroughness, lucid arrangement, and remarkable precision, so their unification seems a logical and obvious if long overdue development. For example, A. Shewan, writing in The Classical Review (38 [1924] 208), said of Cunliffes handling of meanings and uses in the LHD, “the work appears to be extremely well done.” The same reviewer greeted the HPPN in the same journal (45 [1931] 243) as “a useful supplement to an excellent lexicon, . . . which seven years’ use has proved to be a marvel of typographical accuracy.” Shewan said he had “not noted any slip” in the Lexicon and offers only two corrections to the HPPN (at Perseus and Phoinikes); the additional items presented below, the only errors I have noted after more than a decade of frequent and close consultation, will not much damage that verdict, and they support Cunliffes quiet but confident statement (LHD, viii), “The references have all been checked by me in proof with the text, and I hope that little inaccuracy will be found.” When one considers that the LHD and the HPPN comprise 469 double-column pages with at least 100 references per page, the magnitude of Cunliffe’s effort becomes clear. Now Homerists everywhere will be able to benefit from the full range of his extraordinary labors.